Weekly Collegiate Racing Wrap - March 18, 2013

NCCCC: Tour de Husker – by Erik Lemke

Photo by Eric Lemke

The NCCCC started out their season with a bone-chilling weekend in Lincoln, Neb. for the Tour de Husker. Saturday’s road race at Branched Oak Lake Recreation Area saw balmy temperatures that struggled to climb past the mid-thirties. The men’s A field worked together to fight off strong winds that threatened to fracture the field apart. Ben Stover (University of Kansas) rolled across the finish line solo with Aaron Shaw (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities) and Tim Savre (St. Thomas) taking second and third respectively.

Things got a little confusing after the Men’s C field managed to catch up and pass the B field. The majority of the race saw men’s C’s and B’s mixed together to make an enormous and rather confusing field. A breakaway of three C riders was the first to barrel across the finish line with Matthew Vermeersch (Iowa State) taking the win. Brisk northwardly winds cut the men’s B field apart and left a group of four riders out front. In the end Kendal Wiebe (Kansas State) outsprinted Daniel Craig (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities) for the win.

The women put forth a strong effort with Rachel Plessing (UNL) soloing to a win in the A field as the only rider able to stay with the men’s B field ahead of Nadine Chalmers (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities) and Karin Friberg (UM). In the women’s B race, Judah Sencenbaugh (Iowa State) pulled off a first place finish in her first collegiate race ahead of a large women’s B field, with Rebekah Gordon of St. Cloud State and Mary Kay Marino of Minnesota rounding out the podium.

Sunday’s fast and tight criterium course through Pioneer Park offered a lengthy climb at the end that shook apart the fields. Nadine Chalmers (Minnesota) managed to improve on her road race performance and claimed the victory in the women’s A race over Rachel Plessing (UNL) and Karin Friberg (Minnesota), but couldn't earn enough prime points to take the jersey from Plessing. Keeping the winning streak going for Minnesota, Mary Kay Marino took the win in the women’s B race. The men’s A race saw a strong attack right away with Tim Savre (St. Thomas) jumping into the lead. Savre managed to beat back several attempts to reel him back in and soloed to a victory. Ben Stover (University of Kansas) and Aaron Shaw (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities) fought for second and third with Stover besting Shaw in the sprint. Daniel Craig (Minnesota) fought for a well-deserved first place in the men’s B field. The Men’s C field saw a breakaway of five riders almost immediately that managed to open up a 30-second gap and was never caught. Matthew Vermeersch (Iowa State) bested Ronald Steiner (University of Minnesota – Duluth) for a first place finish.

Ben Stover and Rachel Plessing now hold the JAKROO conference leaders’ jerseys, heading into next week’s dual-conference showdown against the MWCCC at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO.

ECCC: Philly Phlyer – by Dominic Caiazzo

The men's B field battles the elements. Photo by Rebecca Thosness.

This past weekend, the ECCC travelled to Philadelphia for the Philly Phlyer, which has become a staple race in the conference calendar. Saturday’s racing took place in Fairmount Park, with an exciting finishing stretch between the arches of the Pennsylvania Civil War Memorial. A classic 14 mile team time trial kicked off the weekend, and in those early Saturday morning hours, the conference saw arguably the best weather of the weekend.

MIT bested the conference in both the men’s and women’s field in the team time trial, proving that they are still the time trialing powerhouse of speed that they have been in years past. Not long after the time trials wrapped up, the bad weather began. As the earlier races progressed, sleet, hail and heavier snow bombarded the racers while temperatures hovered in the mid 30s. In the women’s race, a select group of six riders stayed away in the extreme conditions. In the end, 3 would lose contact with the leaders, leaving Lenore Pipes (Cornell), Hayley Wickstrom (University of Pittsburgh) and Shaena Berlin (MIT) to take the top 3 spots in a small but exciting group sprint. After just 2 laps, the men’s race was called off as the roads started to freeze over and it became nearly impossible to race.

Sunday’s race was a 4 corner crit in the heart of Temple University’s campus featuring some tough gradient changes and fast corners. Despite several heated sprints for prime points, all of which were won by Shaena Berlin (MIT), and late race efforts by the likes of MIT’s Katie Quinn, the women’s race stayed together until the very end. Rugile Kaladyte (RIT) led out and won the sprint, beating Lenore Pipes and Mary Costelloe (Kutztown) who took 2nd and 3rd. No attacks were destined to stay away in the men’s race either, leaving the door open for Julian Georg (Syracuse) to impressively outkick Robin Carpenter (Swarthmore) and Etienne Moreau (Queens University) and take the win on a cold St. Patrick’s Day in Philadelphia.

NWCCC: Willamette University Race Weekend - by Colin Ross

The rain and the teams of the NWCCC converged on Salem, Oregon, for the third weekend of collegiate racing. The flat road race left little cover for the riders from the elements, and created a perfect environment for repeated attacks. Newly upgraded Michael Simacek (Western Washington University) attacked in the final 11 miles and built a several minute gap on his way to his first solo win as an A. The remainder of the field was left to sprint for second, with leaders jersey holder Austin Arguello (University of Oregon) taking Davis Kessler (Western Washington University) at the line to build on his lead in individual points.

The Women’s race came down to a bunch sprint, and despite the torrential downpour Erin Glover (Portland State University) held off chasers Jenna Macpherson (University of Idaho) and Adrienne Stedford (Oregon State University) for her 3rd consecutive win.

The continued rain and high winds led to the cancelation of the afternoon’s team time trial, but left all the teams well rested for Sunday’s figure 8-crit in the shadow of the abandoned state asylum. The multi-corner course caused some minor crashes in the early fields, but newly crowned points leader Erin Goodall (Portland State University) built up her lead with a late attack for a solo victory in the Women’s A crit over teammate Shelley Dunlop (Portland State University) and Adrienne Stedford (Oregon State University). On the men’s side, much of the field stayed together until a 4-man break escaped with 7 laps to go. The rest of the peloton never managed to close the gap, leaving David Kessler (Western Washington University), Rory Jack (University of Washington), Austin Arguello (University of Oregon) and Cole Lalomia (Portland State University) to sprint to the finish, in that order.

SCCCC : Louisiana State University Race Weekend – by Caden Burross

Photo courtesy Martin McCallister http://bit.ly/XnkWNQ

Ride Hard, Live Easy: Every collegiate team needs a good motto, and LSU lives up to theirs. Each year the Tigers put together an amazing stage race in Baton Rouge, LA, complete with beautiful scenery, quick results, and even some prizes.

The events began with Saturday morning's St. Francisville Road Race, a 21.7 mile loop with rolling hills and a steep uphill climb just before the headwind finish. The men's A race was won by JAKROO leaders jersey holder Tony Baca from Midwestern State University. Baca broke away with teammate Sean Brown on the third and final lap of their race. Claire Routledge, MSU, was the victor in the women's A race after the four person field was combined with the men's B race. MSU's David Barrett and Rice's Pierce Young took first and second in that race after holding on to a break for 30 miles, nearly half of the race.

The afternoon’s individual time trials were won by Tulane's Ben Bradley in the men's A, University of Texas' Linnea Nasman for the women's A. The points acquired in the ITT were applied to the overall GC for the weekend.

The weekend wrapped up with Sunday's Crits around the historic Louisiana state capital in downtown Baton Rouge. The fields saw a fairly even distribution of racers from each team. This made for fast pace racing, breaks that wouldn't stick, and mostly sprint finishes. The men's A was won by Alan Tausend from Texas Christian University by a narrow margin against MSU's Sean Brown in the final sprint.

The women's A race went to MSU's Claire Routledge. A standout of the women's race was LSU's Samantha Stein, Stein was combined with the women's A after the other women's B riders did not show for their crit. Stein, a women's B racer, rode in 2nd wheel behind Routledge.

MSU's Sean Brown was able to take the gold podium for the weekend's overall men's A GC, his teammate Claire Routledge stood atop the women's GC podium. The men's B overall went to Graeme Preston from Tulane, and women's B GC went to LSU local Samantha Stein.

WCCC: UC Berkeley Race Weekend - by Michael Nystrom

The notorious bay area moisture and cloud cover was absent this weekend as racers from California and Nevada gathered at UC Berkeley’s home team time trial, road race, and criterium this weekend. Racers pushed their climbing capabilities on the infamous McEwen road climb and tested their descending abilities down Cummings Skyway towards the town of Crockett.

Teams took on the 9-mile TTT course that highlighted fast descents, hard climbs and gradual rises early Saturday morning. The Stanford Men’s A team finished almost one minute ahead of UC Berkeley for first place. The Stanford Women’s A team also beat out UC Berkeley for the top prize—but only by a mere three seconds.

Saturday’s road race took place on a similar 10-mile loop and also included the relentless McEwen road climb and fast Cummings Skyway descent. After 6 laps, Keith Wong of Stanford University edged out the JAKROO leader’s jersey wearer John Tomlinson of USC for first place in the Men’s A road race. UC Davis rider and JAKROO leader’s jersey wearer Danielle Haulman placed first in the Women’s A road race.

Sunday’s 0.4-mile clockwise criterium, located adjacent to the UC Berkeley campus, featured a descent into turn three and an uphill start and finish. UC Berkeley dominated both the Men’s and Women’s A races, with Andreas Freund taking top honors in the Men’s category, and Joanna Dahl beating out three Stanford riders for first place in the women’s category. Joanna also earned points in each of the prime laps, finishing with an impressive raw total of 92 points.

Next week CSU Fresno will host the 8th stop on the WCCC 2013 road schedule.

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